MUM-of-two Alison Flower is keen for her daughter Millie to be vaccinated as soon as possible, after the toddler was admitted to hospital with pneumonia twice in one year.

Alison had to endure Millie being admitted to hospital twice in just 12 months (Photo: Gordon Jack/Scotimage.com)

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FOR the first time in Scotland, the flu vaccine is to be offered to children aged two to 17 to protect them from a virus that leaves around 5000 kids in hospital every year.

The programme, which starts next month, will be phased in over a number of years. This winter, around 119,000 two and three-year-olds will be offered the vaccine, as well as around 100,000 primary school children in selected schools in each local health board area.

The majority will receive the vaccination in the form of a painless nasal spray that, while saving on tears, has also been shown to be more effective in children than the traditional injection.

It’s hoped that by extending the vaccination programme to children it will reduce the spread of the virus to those at most risk, including babies, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Flu is much more than a bad cold. It’s a virus that can make even healthy people feel really unwell for a week or more and, in some cases, can bring on pneumonia, bronchitis and other serious illnesses.

Mum-of-two Alison Flower, from Ratho, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, is well aware of the potential complications caused by the virus. Her two-year-old daughter Millie ended up in hospital in March this year after catching flu.

It was the second time that little Millie had been admitted to hospital with pneumonia in a year and her parents are now keen for her to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Alison, 35, said: “Last March she and her older sister Isobel caught a virus. Isobel was ill but fine and Millie went quite rapidly downhill. She spent six nights in hospital and then had a readmission, so we already knew she might be a bit vulnerable.

“Then, in March this year, we were on holiday skiing in France and Millie just wasn’t herself. She went off her food and wanted to be cuddled all the time.

“On our last day she got a fever and couldn’t settle at all that night. She was starting to cough and we got quite worried at that stage. I was worried it was maybe starting to affect her breathing.

“We flew home the next day and that night she seemed OK. She was perking up a little with Calpol but then went back downhill overnight and, on the Sunday morning, we took her into the Sick Kids and that’s when they admitted her.”

Tests found that Millie had developed a secondary infection after contracting the flu virus. She spent three nights in hospital where she was treated with antibiotics and put on an oxygen mask. But, even though she was well enough to go home, it took months for her to fully recover.

“The cough was still there when she got out of hospital,” said Alison. “She was given more antibiotics, then eventually ended up on a four-week course of them to try to finally shift it. If she’d had the flu jab last year she wouldn’t have had any of that.”

Parents who have children aged two and three will, later this month, receive a letter inviting them to find out about the flu vaccine in their area. And Alison is already planning to get in touch with her GP.

“You just don’t know how flu is going to affect your child,” she added. “So we’ll be having the flu immunisation in October. We don’t want to take the risk.”

Parents of primary age children who are taking part this year will receive a letter from their school, inviting children to receive the vaccination from the school nursing team.

Dr Nicola Steedman, senior medical officer for the Scottish Government, hopes families will take up the offer of immunisation.

She said: “Flu can really hit children hard and they are up to three times more likely to get sick with flu than adults.

“By getting vaccinated, children are less likely to become ill from flu and will help to reduce spreading the virus to other vulnerable people.”